Books by Dale Harris

Books by Dale Harris
A Feast of Epiphanies

Though I Walk, A Novel

Daytime Moons and Other Celestial Anomalies, a book of poems

Second Wind

Second Wind
An album of songs both old and new. Recorded in 2021, a year of major transition for me, these songs explore the many vicissitudes of the spiritual life,. It's about the mountaintop moments and the Holy Saturday sunrises, the doors He opens that no one can close, and those doors He's closed that will never open again. You can click the image above to give it a listen.

The Song Became a Child

The Song Became a Child
A collection of Christmas songs I wrote and recorded during the early days of the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. Click the image to listen.

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do

This is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded in January - March, 2020 while on sabbatical from ministry. They each deal with a different aspect or expression of the Gospel. Click on the image above to listen.

Three Hands Clapping

This is my latest recording project (released May 27, 2019). It is a double album of 22 songs, which very roughly track the story of my life... a sort of musical autobiography, so to speak. Click the album image to listen.

Ghost Notes

Ghost Notes
A collections of original songs I wrote in 2015, and recorded with the FreeWay Musical Collective. Click the album image to listen.

inversions

Recorded in 2014, these songs are sort of a chronicle of my journey through a pastoral burn-out last winter. They deal with themes of mental-health, spiritual burn-out and depression, but also with the inexorable presence of God in the midst of darkness. Click the album art to download.

soundings

soundings
click image to download
"soundings" is a collection of songs I recorded in September/October of 2013. Dealing with themes of hope, ache, trust and spiritual loss, the songs on this album express various facets of my journey with God.

bridges

bridges
Click to download.
"Bridges" is a collection of original songs I wrote in the summer of 2011, during a soul-searching trip I took out to Alberta; a sort of long twilight in the dark night of the soul. I share it here in hopes these musical reflections on my own spiritual journey might be an encouragement to others: the sun does rise, blood-red but beautiful.

echoes

echoes
Prayers, poems and songs (2005-2009). Click to download
"echoes" is a collection of songs I wrote during my time studying at Briercrest Seminary (2004-2009). It's called "echoes" partly because these songs are "echoes" of times spent with God from my songwriting past, but also because there are musical "echoes" of hymns, songs or poems sprinkled throughout the album. Listen closely and you'll hear them.

Accidentals

This collection of mostly blues/rock/folk inspired songs was recorded in the spring and summer of 2015. I call it "accidentals" because all of the songs on this project were tunes I have had kicking around in my notebooks for many years but had never found a "home" for on previous albums. You can click the image to download the whole album.

Random Reads

On Book-Smarts and Knowing Jesus, a devotional thought

There's this almost throw-away line in John 7:49  that sometimes gives me pause. The scribes and Pharisees have sent some servants to arrest Jesus, but the servants don't do it because they are impressed with his teaching.  “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” is what they say (v.46). When the Pharisees hear this, and then learn that the crowd of onlookers was also impressed with Jesus, they are exasperated. But the reason the text gives for their exasperation is interesting: “None of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed in him,” they say, “but this mob, which knows nothing of the law, has.”

In other words, they chalk up the crowd’s belief in Jesus to a lack of learning, and credit their own ability “not to be taken in” to their superior education. The same thing happened earlier, when they criticized Jesus because he'd had no formal education (7:15). They take such pride in their Bible knowledge that it has actually blinded them from seeing Jesus for who he is.

Now don’t get me wrong: I place a high value on education. Life-long learning and deep study of the Scriptures are both a vital part of the Christian life, and this is certainly not meant to undermine those things. But still: it strikes me as curious that these Pharisees are missing out on the good thing that God is doing through Jesus, because they place so much stock in their biblical education that they can't recognize it; whereas the uneducated “mobs” are receiving it, for all their lack of book-smarts.

There’s an irony there. And also a warning, I think, for guys like me who love to climb high and go deep when it comes to hitting the books. It is possible for study—even study of the Scriptures—to move us away from God and not towards him. It's almost certain will do so, if it’s being pursued for selfish reasons, for personal aggrandizement, or any other reason than simply the glory of God and the edification of God’s people. And unless we hold it with an open hand and a humble heart, it’s just possible that a lot of book-smarts might make us, too, miss out on the good things God’s doing in Jesus Christ.

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